Outbreak
by Einamu's-wife
Summary: AU. El Dorado's Second Stage Children vaccine goes horribly wrong, and turns everyone that receives it into a zombie-like creature. With only four of them remaining, Toudou Heikichi decides on one thing - they need to team up with the Protocol Omega captains in order to defeat them and find a cure. Contains spoilers, and minor shipping
1. Prologue

_**Prologue**_

* * *

Toudou Heikichi sighed and began to walk down the halls of El Dorado.

It was a catastrophe; a complete and utter disaster. They never realised what the vaccine would bring.

Zombies.

Living, breathing zombies; That was what the vaccine created. It took over the Second Stage Children's minds and degraded their bodies to the point of looking dead. They had an intense craving for human blood, and had attacked many of the soldiers they had sent out to detain them. It was a full on epidemic, starting within five hours of the children receiving the vaccine.

Entering a single barricaded room, the four remaining Second Stage Children and his three main commanders looked at him inquisitively.

"Found a cure yet, old man?" Saru asked, somehow sitting on the large floating globe in the middle of the room. Upon seeing Toudou shake his head, the white-haired boy frowned and groaned. "Just great. I knew we shouldn't have left the cure to senile old men…"

"Hey! Show some respect!" Gamma yelled from his place on the small black couch. "Be grateful! He could've just left you to die in the hospital room."

"_I'd_ be grateful if he'd left _you_ in the hospital room..." Zanark Abalonic muttered, folding his arms and leaning against the wall. "But then again, you'd probably die as soon as the first person lost their mind."

"Buuuurn." Beta's response was short and sweet, and she smirked from her place next to Gamma.

"Now, now. Don't gang up on him just because you're stronger." Giris's calming tone attempted to soothe the atmosphere, and he tightened his grip on his girlfriend's shoulders. "We have to work together. Zombies look for weaknesses like that."

Assessing the situation in front of him, Alpha frowned a little. Noticing Gamma was about to retort and make it worse, he stood up and put his hand in front of Gamma's face. "_No_. Don't. The fight will escalate. Have you forgotten we're in Master's presence?"

"Fine." Folding his arms and huffing slightly, Gamma looked pointedly to the side. "Don't expect me to just sit here and listen to these assholes constantly berate me all the time, though-"

"Jesus Christ, just give it a_ rest_." Meia interrupted and pointed to the old man standing in front of the doorway. "Just let Heikichi speak."

Clearing his throat, Toudou nodded. "Thank you, Meia. Now, I need you nine to do a task for me."

"What?" the group replied in unison, staring at him in slight interest.

"I need you to defeat them. We're almost at a cure; however, they're beginning to gain on our scientific laboratories, and if they reach it before we've got it confirmed…"

"We'll lose all the information stored in the databases and lose all hope of finding a cure." Gamma finished, looking up at Toudou in slight panic.

Nodding his head gravely, Toudou sighed. "Yes."

"What?" Beta raised an eyebrow, looking at Toudou in surprise. "But we're just kids- well, middle-schoolers. How do you expect us to fight off something like that?"

"I can't." Toudou felt a strange lump in his throat, and swallowed in fear. "But I need you to try."

Looking at one another in debate for a few minutes, Saru stood up and took a deep breath.

"We'll do it."


	2. We prepare to fight our undead friends

Saru wished he had never agreed to that.

All heads in the room turning to him, the white-haired boy immediately sat down again and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "The old men need help, so shouldn't we help them?" It was a good enough excuse, he decided – it wasn't as if he _liked _the chairman or anything. He just wanted to repay a debt… yes, that was it. It wasn't like he had grown close to the man or anything whilst he had been staying at his mansion the past two months. He just wanted to return the favour.

Or maybe that was just what he wanted to think.

"I, for one, agree with Saru." Meia scratched her cheek, interrupting his thoughts and leaning back onto her boyfriend's chest. "What about you, Giris?"

"I agree too." Giris sighed, running his fingers through Meia's hair softly. "Just as long as we don't get injured in the process." Just as Saru had expected him to say - the blonde was whipped, and he knew it. Snickering softly, the boy adjusted his goggles. He was looking forward to teasing him about that later.

Nodding his head, Toudou put his hands behind his back. "You'll be attacking from the air vents. It's highly unlikely that one will get in… and, of course, in the event that one does get in, you can shoot it."

"Shoot it?" Zanark raised an eyebrow in interest. "Like, with a gun?" Perking up slightly at this statement, Saru felt himself leaning forward. Was he really going to give them a weapon like that? A lethal tool of terror and destruction? The white-haired boy grinned in anticipation.

"Not exactly." And at Toudou's next words, Saru felt his happiness disappear and slumped his shoulders, sighing in disappointment. "They're not proper bullets, to be precise. In order to stop any… occurrences," the chairman carefully phrased, eyes wandering over to Gamma and Zanark, "They will be paralysation bullets. Filled with poison from the blue-ringed octopus – it will paralyse them slowly and painfully until death. Of course, if one of you happens to get shot, you can wash it off with water and be in pain for a mere few hours. As the zombies have degenerated flesh, it will sink in much faster."

Never mind. Sounded like his type of gun.

"Sounds cool enough." Beta shrugged, leaning back with her hands behind her head. "When do we start?"

"As soon as you get these on." And with those words, Toudou Heikichi placed 7 bags in the middle of the room and walked out the door.

* * *

The vests were horrible.

Turning around and looking down at the long-sleeved black jacket that he had been forced to wear, Saru sighed. He could care less about fashion, but even _he_ could tell that these were the most horrible looking things on earth.

Attempting to jump back up onto his place on the large projector, Saru frowned and unzipped the bottom of the jacket. There was one thing Toudou hadn't considered, Saru thought, and that was mobility. The article of clothing was horribly thick, and went down past his knees – how was he supposed to jump in that?

Hearing laughter from the other side of the room, the white-haired boy looked back and saw Gamma laughing at someone in the corner. Blinking in curiosity, Saru hopped down and walked up to the other white-haired boy in the room. "What's going on?"

"Saru." Gamma put his hand on his hip and nodded. "Look! Doesn't he look ridiculous?"

Zanark glared at the silver-haired boy, holding his hand up and giving him the middle finger. "Shut up. You'd look ridiculous if you had to wear this, too."

"But I'm not a second-stage child, and therefore I don't." striking a pose in his black long-sleeved shirt, Gamma smirked. "Revenge is sweet."

"Are you really still mad about me wishing you'd gotten stuck in the hospital room? Jesus Christ, you're immature. Grow up." Zanark raised an eyebrow and began walking off to another side of the room. "And as such, I will be the mature adult that leaves this conversation before it gets physical."

"Fine. Be a coward." Gamma muttered, wandering over to Alpha and Beta.

Well, that got boring fast, Saru thought. What else were they supposed to do?

And apparently some immortal guardian force in the sky above was listening, because at that moment, Toudou Heikichi walked back into the room.

"Are you ready?" The chairman questioned, pulling a pair of keys out of his pocket. "Here. The air vents are all yours. I suggest you pair up or group up in threes, so that you don't get taken by surprise."

"Right." Meia nodded, grabbing on to her boyfriend's arm almost immediately. Just as Saru had expected from the two – it wouldn't surprise him if they tried to _die_ together. "We'll be ready."

"Well." Toudou nodded, and threw the keys towards the middle of the room. "Decide a leader for yourselves. The air vent entrance is just above the projector orb. Stay safe, and good luck."

Saru still didn't think this was the greatest idea he'd ever had in life.

But hey, at least he got to handle a gun...


End file.
